Mumbai, July 10 :     Global Telesytems (GTL) will hold a board meeting on July 18 to consider a plan to either acquire or merge group company Global Electronic Commerce Services (GECS) with itself. In a notice sent to stock exchanges today, the company said its board will also consider the appointment of independent valuers, advisors to deal with regulatory issues and investment bankers to tender advice on strategic issues. The move to either acquire or merge GECS - a company which provides e-commerce solutions - with GTL comes after a series of moves to transfer the latter's stake (GTL held around 13 per cent stake in GECS earlier) to a group holding company. In December last year, GTL had announced that it would sell the stake to a consortium of investors and the Rs 180-250 crore that was expected to be raised in the process would be utilised to retire GTL's debts estimated at Rs 160 crore. Of GECS' Rs 160-crore paid-up equity, GTL held 13 per cent, the promoters controlled 40 per cent while the remaining 47 per cent was owned by an overseas investor. Global Telesystems had said it would be divesting 4.6 to 5.5 per cent of GECS' paid-up equity and that the base price for the divestment would be fixed around Rs 200 per share. GECS, according to some estimates, had been valued at Rs 5,000 crore. Later, Morgan Stanley Mutual Fund and India Magnum Fund picked up 1.3 per cent in GECS.